How to make Ballistics work well

[Tech Enthusiast]

So, I am kinda at a loss on how to make Balistics work for Mia.
Given she has all balistics based skills, I keep trying to outfit mechs to suit her. But whatever I do, she always feels like a useless addition to the star. While everyone else is easily getting gold status on damage done every mission, she more often than not goes bronze or silver at best.

I realize damage done is not the most important, as less damage at the correct spots (focused) could easily outdo a more damage setup. Yet,...
...when it comes to kills, she is at about 1/3rd of the xp gained, so very few kills as well.

While missiles are great at sniping annoying stuff from afar and do great damage up close,... all things energy based just seems to be the clear winner in about every category. It is easy to do a lot of damage and very easy to snipe cockpits or other parts.

Basically:
Is the balance THIS off, or is there a way to make balistiscs work better? Like I don't claim to be great at building mech setups at all. Just hit me with something that works, or even better: A general rule of thumb for balistics.

Example:
For energy weapons it is clear that PPCs are for sniping, Pulse lasers are for making sure your damage lands where you want it to and normal lasers are for ton efficient damage.
How do the various balistic weapons compare?

[ICStarz]

The best way to make ballistics work well is to unequip them and add more small lasers...

[Tech Enthusiast]

Originally posted by ICStarz:

The best way to make ballistics work well is to unequip them and add more small lasers...

Sadly that is exactly what I feel like doing all the time. Was hoping other people were smarter than me and found a way to make balistics work, without turning them into pew pew laz0r guns.

[Piderman]

As for LBX, i always switch to the solid slug variant, this way you get more damage on a single point instead of spreading it all over your target. At least for me it works like a charm.

[Geeves]

Its a tabletop vs first person problem. The stats of the weapons are balanced for a game where you have the same odds of hitting with a laser at max range as an AC10 at max range. LBX stats are balanced based on increased accuracy and the concept of partial hits/more locations hit. Flamers are balanced based on basically instakills on vehicles with armor breaches. All weapons are also balanced based on Range bands which is significantly less of a factor in first person games.

So now you throw out almost all of the advantages of ballistic weapons in the transition to first person action, and on top of that give lasers a massive accuracy boost (significantly easier to hit with hitscan weapons at all ranges, *and* they all are guaranteed to hit the same spot, something that is impossible to do in tabletop) and its no wonder lasers are the god tier weapon.

Now they could balance things out by increasing damage of ballistics, but now you've thrown the careful armor value balance out the window when a single hit with an AC10 doesn't just strip all the armor off, but goes internal or instant kills.

Basically, taking the tabletop into first person is insanely hard to balance, and in the end lasers are either god tier, or nerfed into uselessness so that ballistics feel better.

[Lander1]

I have no issues with getting gold damage from Mia using stock omni pod sets that include ballistics. That being said it's a race between Mia's Ballistics and Naomi's LRM's on who will run dry on Ammo first.. Could be you're running out of Ammo and not scanning for the Ammo Crates?

[talemore]

It's a "you issue" , on how to make it useful.

UAC shoots 3-5 times dealing 30-50 damage at 500 meters

2 UAC it deals 60-100

3 UAC 90 - 150

4 UAC 120- 200

5 UAC 150 - 250

What you need to do since the AI doesn't is to cycle around each mech and max out the shots one after the other.

[Cerebrophage]

Are we really going to snob the gauss rifle?

[Clever Name]

Originally posted by Cerebrophage:

Are we really going to snob the gauss rifle?

Poorer rate of fire compared to the PPC, high weight. I want to like the Gauss, don't get me wrong. It's a great weapon in tabletop. But in this game it doesn't feel especially useful. Not compared to energy or missile damage.

Because it has among the lowest rates of fire (ER large laser is similarly bad, but also weighs only 4 tons) in the game, it's only really good for sniping. If somebody's up in your face, they'll out DPS you with almost anything.

Which then forces you to add other weapons than the Gauss if you want to be able to snipe and brawl. And that means you can't twin Gauss on most mechs, because you just don't have enough free weight to do so.

I find it annoying to pair ballistic and energy weapons, because you need to adjust your aiming constantly in a fight. It's much easier to have one primary weapon type. That's why laser vomit is king of the battlefield.

[Stayven]

Try out the UAC Solid Slugs in this game they feel really good and i've been getting on great with them - its a research you can unlock and they have seperate weapon versions of normal and solid slug, similar to LBX but yeah they feel really good and 30 shots per ton isnt too bad either compared to lbx's 15 (on 20's)

[Tech Enthusiast]

So, I have maxed all research for ballistics, trying to force it. And my energy stuff is all just 1 research deep.

Lasers simply destroy all things ballistics, as people have suggested here.
With 5 Mechs that all just use Medium and large Pulse lasers, even a drop of 4 assault mechs on me, is wiped out in less than 15 seconds.
The pinpoint accuracy is just nuts and 7 large pulse lasers more often than not oneshot enemies to the torso or head.

[talemore]

The issue is that we only have one star
https://youtu.be/w3IGok7BUa0?si=IsDyOSeKjQl0ZK20

[ProzAction]

Firing 7 LPL at once should make you explode into a mushroom cloud from the heat. Lasers are so ridiculously overtuned right now.

[Tech Enthusiast]

Originally posted by ProzAction:

Firing 7 LPL at once should make you explode into a mushroom cloud from the heat. Lasers are so ridiculously overtuned right now.

Can get off 2 salvos without overheating, the third needs a slight delay, or just take the overheating, if it makes an enemy drop.

[ProzAction]

Yeah, the heat on LPLs is completely broken. They dropped it to a little over half what it's supposed to be. If you tried that in real BattleTech you'd be a molten crater.

[Geeves]

I will say that quad UAC10 solid is the superior headshot build at least.